Dyer touts rosy view of downtown Orlando's future

October 5, 2006|By Mark Schlueb, Sentinel Staff Writer

In a speech that began Wednesday with music-video-style highlights of Orlando's history and ended with cheerleaders dancing to "Celebration," Mayor Buddy Dyer delivered a rosy assessment of downtown's future and his own accomplishments.

An exuberant Dyer anchored his annual "State of Downtown" address with news of last week's deal to finance a new performing-arts center, Orlando Magic arena and renovated Florida Citrus Bowl.

The three projects will "show the world that Orlando is no longer a second-tier city. We will stand head-to-head and shoulder-to-shoulder with any region in the world," Dyer said.

The speech, delivered to a friendly crowd of about 600 downtown boosters, community leaders and fellow politicians, was a carefully orchestrated show.

Before Dyer spoke -- with the lights extinguished and a disco ball spinning -- attendees watched a video in which a child armed with a bewitched TV remote control played footage of the city's history, sports and architecture.

As the speech drew to a close, the mayor bellowed for the crowd to "celebrate," signaling the entrance of Orlando Magic dancers, team mascot Stuff, acrobats and stilt-wearing celebrants who fired streamers over the crowd -- and a costumed orange.

He pointed to major construction projects under way downtown, including the Paramount, a Central Boulevard tower that will include a Pub-lix; the Lexington, a 23-story condominium complex; the Vue condo tower; and the Dynetech office tower.

Site preparation recently began for Camden Orange Court, a mixed-use project featuring apartments and retail.

Parramore, the city's most troubled community, is benefiting from new mixed-income housing and Parramore Heritage Park, which is under construction, he said.

The city's public-safety initiative will put more police on the streets during the next three years, he added.

Dyer said residents and commuters can look forward to a better transportation system, including commuter rail -- which will include several downtown stations -- and additional bus links.

But the mayor's address was dominated by the community venues.

Dyer reminded listeners that he had outlined his pursuit of the three projects when he delivered the same speech two years ago.

After Wednesday's speech, city workers erected "Future Home" signs on the sites of each of the projects, he said.

"There is still a lot of work ahead for us to get these projects up and out of the ground, so we've got to roll up our sleeves and keep moving ahead," Dyer said.